


The Window

by hisen



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Halloween, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27168493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisen/pseuds/hisen
Summary: From the moment the Uzumaki refused Tobirama's request for a Senju escort on Mito's progress to their village, Tobirama was suspicious.The truth turns out to be worse than he expected.
Relationships: Senju Hashirama/Uzumaki Mito, Senju Tobirama/Uzumaki Mito
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	The Window

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a couple of months ago in a burst of inspiration after writing my other Tobirama/Mito fic (it even has a similar start but a very different ending!). I decided to save posting it for Halloween because it's more fitting for this time of year. Enjoy!

The first sign of something wrong was the refusal. After exchanging marriage contracts, the Senju should have sent an escort to accompany her to her new home. The Uzumaki said no. At first he thought it was the lack of Hashirama that caused it, so he offered his brother to accompany her. Again, no. He offered himself alongside his brother. Again, no. It was kind but the Uzumaki always accompanied their own, without outsiders.

Tobirama put the message down, slid it across the desk to Hashirama with a frown. 

"It is not custom for them, I checked. Hashirama, we should insist. I fear they've misled us, and she'll turn out to be a failure unfit to be married to you. They want to present her to us as a fait accompli so we can't send her back." 

"We need to trust them. Our suspicion will only end up causing more suspicion, and so on until we're in a war with them. I trust them." Hashirama seemed unconcerned by the situation, and held up the watercolour they included with the final exchange of the contract. "See? She looks fine." Tobirama looked at the watercolour with scepticism. Of course it did, all portraits were made to flatter, and no more so than in marriage negotiations. It was a well-executed portrait, apart from one detail. Her eyes, staring out at him with defiance, dark amusement, unnerved him. They were not the eyes of the reserved, mannered, well-bred young woman they had described. 

"It's a portrait. Artists only get paid if they flatter. We must insist." Hashirama put the portrait down and met his eyes straight on. There, too, was defiance, though of a much less disturbing kind. 

"No. I won't have you challenge their honour like this."

"You must understand-" Hashirama slammed his hand against the desk, the spike of anger surprised Tobirama. 

"No! I want to hear no more of this. They'll accompany her here, and I'll receive her as my fiancee. That's final." It was rare for Hashirama to challenge him like this, or so fiercely. He was sure they were being hoodwinked, but he could see he'd get no further now. Hashirama was determined to marry this Uzumaki Mito. He would have to accept it.

For now.

* * *

The party arrived late, long after the sun had set. They had nearly given up, abandoned their posts to wait for tomorrow instead, when they appeared on the horizon. A dark muddled mass, creeping into their home. Tobirama thought of how it'd be a perfect way to attack them by surprise, something that never would have occurred to him with the Uzumaki before. Under the shade of a red umbrella, she led the party.

"I told you." Hashirama whispered in his ear, delighted to be proved right. She did look like her portrait. Right to the defiance in her dark eyes. It was not the gaze of a woman who was described as 'reserved', their darkness stark against the flaming red hair pinned up on her head and her deathly pale skin. Tobirama didn't trust her, trusted her even less when she reached them, caught his eye and smiled, like she knew what he was thinking. It felt like something was creeping up his spine, even as she turned to Hashirama to greet him.

The nape of her neck was so pale, almost white, like she had painted it, but without a trace of paint present. It made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. There was something wrong with her, some defect in her that was deeply unnatural. His instincts screamed it at him, and he trusted them even if Hashirama would disapprove. 

They passed him together. She still held the umbrella open, the shade cast over her.

"I'm sorry, I do need it. I'm very sensitive to light." The light of the torches lit to light her way flickered against her face. It was pale, a ghostly, sickly paleness. Unnatural. She ducked her head under the umbrella, retreated from the light. "I apologise for how delicate I am." 

Sickness? Some mysterious illness eating away at her? Did her family bring her to die? Tobirama gestured to his brother, pulled him away forcefully from his bride. 

"You must ask her family what is wrong with her before you marry her. She looks like she's dying. Do you want to become a widower straight away?" Hashirama hesitated. Ah ha! His brother might not be prone to deep consideration, impulsive to the core, but even he had concerns. Tobirama pressed his advantage. "You must ask. They said she was healthy, if she's sick, they're violating the terms. Refuse to marry her until they prove it." He could see Hashirama wavering, preparing to ask, before Mito called out to him.

"Are you coming, my lord?" The umbrella twirled, as she rested the handle against her shoulder. She met Hashirama's eyes with a smile. The concern vanished from his eyes. 

"There's nothing wrong with her. You really must stop with this prejudice against her, it's not like you at all. She's done nothing to deserve it." Hashirama turned away from him with annoyance, followed her away. The rest of the clan trailed after his brother, leaving him alone. 

Tobirama was certain. Hashirama might be blind to it, but something was wrong. Even if nobody else believed him, he would find out what it was and end this farce.

* * *

The wedding was a disgrace. On the morning, they awoke to find all of her kin had fled the village, as if they'd known she'd delay the ceremony and wanted to be involved no further. The bride did not arrived at the appointed time and nobody could find her. Appearing at close to midnight, she offered no explanation, even when Tobirama had demanded it. She just smiled, her mouth closed, as if an explanation was a funny idea. Hashirama married her anyway, a squalid affair conducted in dim candlelight, with Tobirama a reluctant witness. 

The Uzumaki had completely duped them, and Hashirama refused to see it. He insisted on marrying her, the Senju had celebrated like there was nothing wrong, that the feast was not at three in the morning. Like the bride was not lurking in shadows, avoiding the light. She didn't eat at the feast, didn't join the festivities. Neither did he. He watched her for the whole feast, waiting for her to slip.

She didn't. Mito knew he was watching her, had raised her glass, untouched, to him in a lazy toast before ignoring him. It was infuriating. She thought she was untouchable. 

After the wedding, he tried to gather allies, but no-one was interested. People loved her, or held her in solid indifference he couldn't breach. Nobody could see the problem, not with her. It would be enough to make someone else doubt, to make them question their judgement. Not Tobirama. He was certain that there was something, some sort of genjutsu she'd cast on his clan. 

And the missing. Since the night of the wedding, people were disappearing. Every night another person would vanish. Midnight raids were always a risk, sometimes people would leave without a word to escape their duties, but none of these explanations satisfied Tobirama, even as the rest of the clan placidly accepted them. 

He was the one who found the only body so far. Abandoned in an alleyway, all the blood drained from him. A look of terror on his face. Evidence that couldn't be disputed, now that he'd found one of the poor, unfortunate souls who had nearly vanished into nothing. With a heavy heart he dragged the body into the centre of the village, and demanded an inquest into the death. A rare thing to do in the Senju, where most deaths were easy to explain. War, an accident, disease, suicide. Murder was rare. 

Hashirama granted his request, but it was a curt affair. Suicide, the clan agreed. The poor man decided that he no longer wanted to live. It was nothing more complicated than that.

"I found him in an alleyway, drained of all his blood! Look at his face! What did he see before he died?" Their eyes slid over him, and over the corpse. These things happened. The case was closed. Until then, Tobirama had always been held in respect by his clan. No more. He saw the look in their eyes, how it had shifted from respect to pity. They thought he was going mad. 

No. He knew he was right. He didn't falter, refused to accept his clan's judgement of him. He would prove them wrong, he would catch them in the act, whoever it was. Tobirama was certain it was something to do with her. Was it a plot by the Uzumaki, to bring them down from inside? He would make them pay for their betrayal.

Tobirama waited. That night, in the shadows of the roofs, he waited for something. A sign that would unlock this mystery, prove he was right, that someone was responsible for the disappearances. The night dragged on, as the darkness deepened without a single sign, until Tobirama wondered if tonight would be different. A peaceful night. The scream pierced that thought and sent him hurtling into the night, chasing after it.

His feet pounded against the ground, his blood pounded in his ears. A turn, another turn, then one final corner before he reached the spot that the scream came from.

There she was. Mito, a man in her arms, her teeth buried in his neck. Her eyes slid up to him, narrowed like a wolf being approached by someone about to take their prey away. A snarl against her blood stained lips, before the sucking started again. It took a moment to register, the way the blood was almost all drained from the man. Within moments, he was dead, and Mito threw him aside. A shell of his former self.

Mito smiled, baring her teeth as she did. They were sharper than any human's teeth should be. The blood in the corners of her mouth, staining it red. 

For all his experience, for all the battles he'd fought in, Tobirama froze. This was worse, much worse than he feared. She was a monster, killing his people to feed her appetite.  
"Oh, Tobirama. I thought it might come to this. You were too smart, too curious for your own good." She edged forward, and he stepped back, preparing himself to fight. There was no doubt in his mind. He had to slay her, his brother's 'wife', for the survival of the Senju. His hand wouldn't move, no matter how hard he tried to pull it to his sword. "It's strange, you're the only Senju who resisted me. Even Hashirama gave in, when I gave my absolute upmost to charm him. I'm fascinated. You even want to kill me! Those in my clan who could resist me just brought me here so I'd be your problem instead." 

She came in closer, his feet stuck to the ground and he couldn't back away. It wasn't like any jutsu he'd experienced before. It might not even be jutsu. It might just be the raw power of whatever curse she had. 

"I'm just so hungry." She crooned, like a cat trying to charm him. It made him feel sick. "I have to eat. Your blood would be delicious, Tobirama, I'm sure, but you can resist me. I think you and I have a different destiny." With a final effort, Tobirama pulled himself free of her power and went straight for her throat.

Too slow. Her fangs went straight into his neck, punctured the skin. His sword was sent flying behind him and he howled in pain. He fought back, tried to get her off him but her strength was far more than her frame, more than any human. It was the strength of a monster. She restrained him like it was nothing. 

"Shh, shh, if you struggle, it'll hurt more." He couldn't miss the thrill in her voice against his skin, mockery and hunger. "I'm only taking a little." He struggled against it, futile as she lapped at his blood trickling out of the bite. Her teeth dug in deeper, making him wince in pain, determined not to make a noise, try to escape. Something started to flow from her through the bite, into his veins. Venom! The thought brought a surge of strength through him, and he pushed her off him with a growl. His heart pounding, his vision shifting, and then his body caught fire. 

Tobirama collapsed on the ground. Mito laughed, manic, drunk on his blood. He couldn't move, couldn't feel anything but the pain.

"Didn't I tell you? I wanted something different from you. Welcome, Tobirama. These humans are nothing, merely food." Her red hair, loosened from its normal bonds, fanned over him as she leaned down over him. It sent pain coursing through him. "This is your destiny." The pain suddenly subsidised, washed away as if it'd never been there. The changes lingered, solidified. The world felt different, smelt different as he staggered to his feet. He sniffed. The scent of blood in the air made him hungry. He rubbed his tongue over his teeth, felt their new sharpness. Ready to hunt. Ready to kill. The feral look in his eyes made Mito coo in delight. 

"Oh, you're even better than I hoped!" Tobirama looked at her, snarled, and went straight for her throat again. 

A false hope. He couldn't kill the one who sired him. They'd be tied to each other with a red string of destiny, of hatred, just like her hair.


End file.
